Talk:James Franco/Archive 1

Method actor?

Is he a method actor? I saw an interview with him before the Spiderman 3 premiere, and he was speaking with this (terrible) English accent. Thom32

Ethnicity/Religion

Does he practice Judaism or is it just that his mother is Jewish? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.179.65.37 (talk • contribs)

This is the most detail we've gotten [1] Mad Jack 19:03, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

http://www.jewishsf.com as the basis for making such claim is preposterous; that site has claimed many artists as jewish or of jewish ancestry without any proof. More, James Franco himself claims to be of Russian origin not Russian/Jewish origin. Edited for neutrality.--Carrac 11:05, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

JewishSF is a reliable source, being a newspaper and definitely passing WP:RS. A lot of Jewish people just mention the nationality of their ancestors within specifying "Jewish". For example, see [2] this interview with Jennifer Connelly, whose mother is Jewish, - when asked about her background, she says "I'm a bit of a motley mixture of my paternal grandmother who was Norwegian and my mother's side. I have Polish and Russian and some of those, it's on my grandparents' side". She doesn't specify Polish/Russian Jewish, though later in the article she says "I'm an Irish Catholic Jew riddled with guilt.", or this interview with Sean Penn, where (in reference to his father's background), he says [3] "I'm Spanish, Russian", although of course, his father was Jewish [4], and his ancestors were just Jews from Spain/Russia, though again Penn would not necessarily mention that. And I could give you a lot of other examples. Unless you have a reliable source that he isn't Jewish on his mother's side, you don't have much of a claim, since we have a reliable source that he is. Mad Jack 16:37, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

He's half Jewish-his mother is a Jew and his father isn't. It takes some ego to claim that if a person is half Jewish he is a Jew." If someone is half German and half Hungarian no one in the world considers them simply a German or a Hungarian. Jews should be treated like any other ethnic group I see no reason for giving them special treatment or preference over other ethnic groups when determing ethnicity. There is a lot of talk inside the jewish community but outside of it if you're half-Jewish ethnically then you're half-Jewish. Now as for his religious beliefs (which should be completely unrelated to his ethnicity) that's a different story. Quadzilla99 04:00, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

It's not ego. According to Judaism, if your mother is Jewish, you are legally considered Jewish.(72.144.150.52 (talk) 03:53, 19 January 2008 (UTC))

"It takes some ego to claim that if a person is half Jewish he is a Jew." The Nazis made just such a claim, but then they were very egotistical people. Cranston Lamont 03:54, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

So because the Nazis did it then it's correct? Please explain, assuming of course you even know what you were trying to say (I kind of doubt it). Let's say I'm half Italian and half Spanish find me one person who would call me just Italian or Spanish. One, just one. Also please don't bring up the Holocaust or Nazi's again, it's a pathetic way to make an argument about ethnicity. Playing that card every time someone does something you don't like based on your interpretation of Judaism and ethnicity belittles the holocaust. Quadzilla99 21:31, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Also, and let me get this correct, for every ethnicity out there if you're half one ethnicity and half another your listed that way right? But if you're half Jewish and half another then you're Jewish? And people went along with this because they were afraid of being called anti-semitic? Seriously? Quadzilla99 21:35, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Actually, anyone can clain to be Jewish, regardless of their ancestry, if they make a commitment to study and observe the religion. Ego has nothing to do with it. Also, Quadzilla99 was carrying on about how people used the half-Jewish-is-Jewish argument to get "special treatment or preference over other ethnic groups." I brought up the Nazis simply to show that this definition can also be used for just the opposite. Cranston Lamont 18:56, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

What is the point of this discussion? Also, I removed this sentence from "Personal Life" - "Franco is half Jewish". Franco's full background is already discussed under "early life", so there is no need to repeat it, especially since it seems to be there simply to contradict Salon.com's assessment or to say that they are wrong, and is thus original research. It's comparable to "Franco won the Academy Award for this particular performance, but the following film critics gave the performance a negative review" Mad Jack 22:31, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

The entire sentence containing the statement was removed which is good. Stating he is Jewish is incorrect is the point, he's half-Jewish. What's complicated about that? If the statement has said he was inspiring Portugese or Swedish cool it would have been just as stupid and would have been seen for what it was: namely a claim by some of his Portugese or Swedish fans to claim him as "Portugese" or "Swedish" which he isn't. He's an American born person of mixed ethnicity. Quadzilla99 11:44, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

See WP:NOR ("Articles should only contain verifiable content from reliable sources without further analysis"; "Content should not be synthesized to advance a position"). What you're doing is further analysis, possibly to advance a position. The statement said that Salon.com said that he is one of the top "10 men who might just inspire the rebirth of Jewish male cool". If you disagree with that, good for you, but it has nothing to do with the article, and it's original research. In fact, I am restoring that statement, it seems kind of a weird but notable enough tidbit. If you have a source that explicitly disagreed or took issue with Salon.com's assessment, feel free to add all about that into that sentence. If you don't, you may not, because it's original research (similarly, in Barack Obama, we do not put "Barack is half black, btw" after "According to the U.S. Senate Historical Office, he is the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history and the only African American currently serving in the U.S. Senate"). This whole discussion, in fact, is incredibly annoying. Mad Jack 16:48, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Salon.com does not set the standards for race classification in America. He's an American person born of mixed ethnicity. Quadzilla99 18:07, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Wow, I was totally right. I mean 100%. See the Who is a Jew? article. Basically the most accepted classification is that North American people of one Jewish parent - regardless if the mother or father is Jewish - can claim Jewish ancestry. If they do not claim it they renounce all rights. I have never seen one quote of his saying he is a Jew, if you find one then when you can classify him as such. You will still have been wrong because your original claim was totally wrong-that a Salon.com article determines a person's ethnicity. Basically my objection to this, is that some people who are all hung up on their own ethnicity go around all over Wikipedia trying to claim successful mixed ethnicity people to be of their ethnicity, see Alexis Bledel among many others (there's a dispute on her talk page). Franco is not a shining example of your ethnicity whether it be Portugese, Swedish, or Jewish. He's a mixed race American. Quadzilla99 18:33, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

By the way if you disagree complain on the Who is a Jew? talk page. Also you never answered my original question if someone is half German and half Hungarian what ethnicity are they? Quadzilla99 18:36, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Also as for the African American classification, that's in the census. I don't see any such similar classification in there for the Jewish ethnicity:[5] Quadzilla99 18:41, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Salon.com is a hip pop-culture kind of magazine. All Wikipedia is stating is that Franco was included in that magazine's article as one of its top "10 men who might just inspire the rebirth of Jewish male cool". I am not debating Jewishness with you, nor have I made a statement on what I consider Franco to be. I have no clue why this discussion is going on here, in fact. I see no reason to remove Salon.com's statement from the article, nor can we correct it with our own opinion. The only thing I could see us discussing is if you're disputing whether Salon.com ever made this statement in the first place. Since you don't appear to be disputing that, the article is currently factually accurate, so what are we discussing? Mad Jack 19:28, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

IMDb is not a reliable source as to what a reputable biography should have in it as it is written by volunteers. The only purpose whatsoever to include that is to identify him as Jewish, which he technically isn't. Unless you're trying to say that is some tremendously important article about him. As a matter of fact being that he is a celebrity there are probably hundreds if not thousands of articles that have blurbs about him being sexy or cool. They also don't make dubious misleading claims that he represents a rebirth in Portugese sexiness or Swedish style which would be just as incorrect. The fact that you keep inserting that particular comment instead of any other blurb leads me to believe that all you are concerned with is identifying him as Jewish. Why can't I/you find another article talking about how he is considered cool/hip that doesn't seek to make his coolness an ethnic quality? Also like I said it gets tiring reading articles about successful mixed ethnicity people on Wikipedia where you can tell the editors are fighting over who gets to claim his/her success as part of their ethnicity. Quadzilla99 06:40, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

naomi says james is hot

sarah agrees with naomi.

Okay, EVERYONE. Stop deleting Personal Life. He has verified all of these girlfriends. Okay? :)

Calm down. You just want him to verify you.

OWNED!11!!one1!!one

Verify me? I'm sorry, what? I wasn't riled up or anything at all. I don't need to calm down... Anyway. The people on wikipedia are really rude sometimes. -.-

Fugly

Wow, I didn't thin James Franco could take a bad picture, but there it is. He looks squinty-eyed, buck-toothed, and dirty-faced. What a tragedy the choice to use this picture to represent him is... -- AvatarMN 19:55, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

YESSSSSS —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.131.247.107 (talk) 00:11, 13 December 2007 (UTC)